The five Maui defendants in a federal conspiracy and fraud prosecution have been ordered by a judge to stop filing unsigned documents.

U.S. District Judge Michael Seabright complained that documents filed since the grand jury indictment in May have been "incomprehensible and nonsensical."

Seabright's order was filed one week after three of the five defendants failed to appear to make pleas.

Since then, all three have been collared and two agreed to abide by court bail requirements. The third, John Oliver, remains in custody, according to prosecutor Lawrence Wong.

Bench warrants were issued for Pilialoha Teves, Mahealani Ventura-Oliver and her husband, John Oliver, when they failed to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang last month.

Two defendants appeared and pleaded not guilty, Peter (also known as Petro) Hoy and Leatrice Lehua Hoy.

The Olivers face 25 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering and false claims, and the others face a lesser number of counts in the same alleged scheme.

According to the grand jury, sometime before 2008, the five, whose main spokeswoman is Ventura-Oliver, began a campaign to lure Native Hawaiians into a scheme in which they would avoid paying mortgage, credit card and tax debts by claiming they had a "private bond" that could be used to offset bills.

The defendants charged several thousand dollars for their advice and help in submitting claims, gathering a total of at least $468,000.

By public meetings, radio shows and other means, they publicized their program, using a number of organization names, including Hawaiiloa Foundation, Ko Hawaii Pae Aina and The Registry.

Ventura-Oliver had for years made claims that land titles in Hawaii since 1898 were invalid, and she had often testified before public boards claiming that developments were illegally using land owned by Hawaiians.

In 2009, Teves tried to convince the court that it did not have jurisdiction in a forfeiture case because kingdom law still prevails and the state government is illegitimate, but the judge did not buy it.

The arguments the five are alleged to have made were based on claims that Native Hawaiians have rights from birth, including financial accounts they can draw on.

The indictment calls those accounts "fictitious."

In addition to submitting papers for others claiming to offset debts (leading to the mail fraud charges), the indictment said, John Oliver submitted claims for federal tax refunds of hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself to which he was not entitled.

Seabright wrote that some filings made on behalf of the defendants were "largely incomprehensible and nonsensical."

One such was titled "Defendant John D. Oliver's Reservation of Plea Pending Plaintiff's Ratification of Indictment."

This was purportedly signed by an unnamed "authorized agent" whose signature could not be read.

Seabright ordered the clerk of the court to accept documents only from the defendants or their counsel.

It is not clear which of the defendants have counsel.

According to Jim Dooley writing in the Hawaii Reporter, when the five were supposed to appear before Chang a month ago, a federal public defender appeared for Ventura-Oliver (though she did not appear) but said she had neither formally agreed to be represented by him or contacted him about her case.

Oliver was reported to have rejected his court-appointed lawyer.

The Hoys are represented by Dana Ishibashi. Teves is reported to be represented by Richard Gronna.

After the bench warrants were issued, Ventura-Oliver and Teves were arrested and later released on bail, after advising the court they would follow all bail conditions.

Oliver was arrested June 30. On July 6, the court set bail, ordering that he reside at Mahoney Hale, a halfway house for rehabilitating alcohol and drug users. But since there has not been a place for him, he remains in jail.

* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.